Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

Members reviews voted most helpful

A sequel too far
- Blade Runner 2049 review by ND

(6) of (7) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 2

The sequel to my favourite film was going to have to be exceptional but it isn't. It's worth watching but the characters from the first film aren't matched at all. Ryan Gosling isn't dangerous, there's no Darryl Hannah-quality actress, the villain doesn't have any presence - think of Rutger Hauer in '82 - he was frightening!

The CGI Rachel is distractingly not-quite-right, the sets don't have the dinginess, you don't get any idea of what society was like. Actually, the more I think about it, the more disappointing it was.

If I tell you that after it was finished I didn't revisit any scene, just put the DVD back in the envelope and posted it, you'll get my view. As I said, see it, just don't expect the wide-eyed fascination of the original. "You see a turtle..."

Recent reviews by members

Slow dull disappointing
- Blade Runner 2049 review by cr

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

I am amazed by some of the critics and user reviews for this film which say how great it is and how great the visuals are. I can only imagine that we watched very different films! I found this film incredibly slow and dull. Its nearly 3 hours long and nothing really happens and the visuals aren't that great. I loved the original and think its well before it's time but it had an involving story line and characters that you could relate it with this all we have is close ups of Ryan Goslings face looking perplexed! You're not the only one Ryan!!

I see the director Denis Villenueve also delivered the equally slow and dull Arrival which was equally weiredly prasied by the critics. Again nothing happens! Avoid!

I found this review:

Reviewed by: cr

Overlong but has its moments
- Blade Runner 2049 review by Alphaville

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 3

With more clarity of plot and some judicious editing this could have been a worthy sequel to Blade Runner. Unfortunately the wearing first hour is full of gloomy intensity, slow-moving plot, overly deliberate camerawork and characters drained of emotion. All of which makes blank-faced Ryan Gosling the perfect leading man. Not a lot of it makes much sense (robots giving birth?!), which turns the sci-fi aesthetic of the original into fantasy. Watch the DVD extras, for instance, if you want to know more about spinners, pilotfish and barracudas.

After the first hour matters improve as a clearer plot kicks in, there are more exciting scenes, visuals and score, and the film builds to a brilliantly-realised final fight. According to director Denis Villeneuve (again on the DVD extras), the subtext is all about memory: ‘Are we humans without memories?’ Ignore that, plod through the first hour and enjoy the spectacle of the rest. The best things in it are the two female leads: Gosling’s holographic companion Joi and the chief replicant badgirl he fights at the end. Cut out the dross and this would have been a film to remember

Let down follow up
- Blade Runner 2049 review by DJ

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 3

The original has always been a favourite and I don't understand why that 'flopped' at the box office but this sequel I do. There was sparkle amongst the gloom of the original and none of that here. There was fun and depth to Decker in the original, more wow in the design (though the sequel's design excels many times) and sexiness in the characters too. This one substituted sexiness with sexism. Strange addition.

The soundtrack has none of the big vision of Vangelis. I like Gosling and he's good casting for a replicant but he needed more balance from a 'character'. Ridley Scott says it should have had a half hour cut off and he's dead right - would have helped.

All other members reviews

If this was a class of college students, it wouldn't be the popular kid...
- Blade Runner 2049 review by Schrödinger's Cake

(3) of (4) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 5

A quick glance through the various “best movie ever” lists will show a cluster of films that started out as box office flops, but which grew in time to become cult classics. Funnily enough, numbered amongst these is none other than the original Blade Runner, which is for many cinema fans their favourite film of all time.

If you take a moment to consider the context and content, it’s actually no surprise that the original Blade Runner flatlined at the cinema, and likewise, in a similar fashion so did this one. If this was a class of college students, neither would be the popular kid: they are both simply too raw and unguarded for that.

Personally, I think I was actually a little disappointed with the film, but not because it was awful (in fact quite the opposite); more so because of the weight expectation set by it’s older sibling.

A piece of me is left thinking that it will be interesting to see whether (with time) Blade Runner 2049 evolves to be one of the current generation’s cult classics…

Great film
- Blade Runner 2049 review by JR

(2) of (3) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 4

This is such a well made film with an intriguing storyline and some super, full on action. The effects are brilliant as are the fabulous sets, all bringing the image of a desperate society in a dystopian future. All this and great acting too

I found this review:

Reviewed by: JR

A Tad unrealistic
- Blade Runner 2049 review by BS

(2) of (3) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 3

It's been almost 50 years and humans apparently still haven't gone further than earth's orbit, last time was 1972 (allegedly), so take the "2049" with a grain of salt. By then we might have moderately better broadband, and maybe Brexit will finally have happened, but I digress ... Having not been a fan of director Villeneuve's previous sci-fi movie, but did enjoy Sicario, I almost booked a ticket to actually go to something called a cinema and watch it. Glad I didn't, because - just like The Arrival - this film looks and sounds the part, but massively fails to deliver. The story/plot is a mess, and it doesn't get much better once Harrison Ford finally makes an entrance. Why would replicants age and gain limps?

So, if you want to watch something far more interesting in terms of AI, consciousness and humanity/transhumanism, go watch the first season of WestWorld, or play Deux Ex: Human Revolution.

What can I say... Firstly I am a fan of the original - i.e. I actually had a poster of the original film in my student digs all through uni and have seen most of the different cuts and special features of the original. A film noir detective film in the future with robots, Vangelis, great acting and a thought provoking sci-fi element with of course ground breaking production design, FX and sets / costumes.

Forget Harrison, he's only in it about 20 mins or so. A quiet, pretty boy (Gosling) has taken over and he has to carry the first 2hrs (yes ... 2 hrs of slow scant plot). No humour. Very little acting. No style. No film noir. Not even that much detective story either. In fact very few older replicants to retire until a large mob turn up at the end but after I had fallen asleep and tried to re-watch the bit I had fallen asleep in it still wasn't clear what version of Nexus replicant they were anyway.

Gosling has an embarrassing love scene with a robot hologram. Harrison gets to look old. They shoot a cloned Rachel in the head. There is no real villain until the end really when we work out the main adversary is really a lady replicant who for 3 quarters of the film has been running a CEO's office.

Android has baby. ? What?!? Pantsy...

Music replaced with other electronic music. Which for the most part isn't too bad at least it fits the film. But is in no way beautiful like Vangelis hauntingly beautiful score. And every 5 mins or so a truly awful electronic horn-burp is blarred into your speakers for some reason whilst in the LA scenes...

Ending: Gosling dies on some steps (after saving Deckard) lying in the snow. The scene could have been shot outside my local museum not on top of a high rise surrounded by futuristic neon hoardings etc in the rain as per the orig.

It is pants..!. Captain underpants!

Ridley Scott even admitted he could have shaved off 30mins fairly easily. Give it to me and I could have turned it into a 30min special feature to tag onto the back of the vastly superior original. In fact, me and the missus started to comment on how much we could have cut out of some of the scenes as we watched it. The side story with K's hologram girlfriend is unnecessary and cringy for e.g. It comes in at 2hr53mins I think I read. Way too long.

It is just bad. Soooo bad. I could cry but then... my tears would be lost in time... like tears in the rain.

All dressed up and nowhere to go
- Blade Runner 2049 review by Count Otto Black

(2) of (2) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 2

There was a time when "Psycho II" was considered to be the ultimate unnecessary sequel, since the original film so obviously didn't need one that it was 23 years before we unexpectedly got one anyway. Well, now we've got another Blade Runner movie a mere 35 years after the first! Was it worth the wait? Frankly, no. The way the critics hailed it as a masterpiece while lacklustre word of mouth among ordinary customers resulted in a very poor performance at the box office tells you most of what you need to know. This is a massive sci-fi epic about a future cop who hunts superpowered killer androids, and yet somehow it manages to be boring. Even Ridley Scott said he would have cut half an hour, and he was the executive producer! Though since Sir Ridley got the same credit on "Mindhorn", that doesn't necessarily mean he had anything to do with the actual making of the movie.

The hopelessly muddled plot is more concerned with mechanically ticking nod-to-the-previous-film boxes in trivial ways (the most ironic of which is a pointless cameo by a character from "Blade Runner" who is now in a retirement home) than either making any kind of sense or capturing the spirit of the first movie, which despite appearances wasn't really an effects-driven blockbuster at all. Like the original "Star Wars", one of its greatest strengths was the way the characters allowed the fascinatingly bizarre world they inhabited to unfold around them without constantly stopping to look at it because to them it was all quite ordinary. The true heart of the film was its hero's gradual realisation that the monsters he mercilessly "retired" had far more humanity than he'd been led to believe, while maybe he himself had less.

You'll see very little of that here. Ryan Gosling's nameless cliché knows all along he's a replicant, though it appears that, as in the Alien franchise, the over-emotional earlier models have been replaced by much more reliable and therefore much less interesting androids who behave themselves like good little toy soldiers should. Rutger Hauer's demonic yet ultimately sympathetic Roy Batty, the true heart and soul of the first movie, has no worthy successor. The dull protagonist mostly expresses what few emotions he has through a time-wasting relationship with his holographic AI "girlfriend", who is blatantly included purely because the tyranny of political correctness has made Strong Wimmin compulsory, so they can only get away with having a Girly Girl in the film by making her even less real than everybody else in a movie about androids. The ultra-violent female Roy Batty substitute makes even less impression than the boring hero. As for Harrison Ford, during his few scenes he looks like someone who didn't want to do it but was beaten into submission with a huge cheque. And Jared Leto's barking mad baddie is on screen for about five minutes, during which he does dreadful things for no reason at all in case we hadn't caught on that the guy who owns The Big Corporation is evil like he always is.

And so on. With characters this uninteresting, nearly every scene ends up being stolen by the scenery. Which it has to be said is magnificent, and that's why I gave the film more than one star. But without larger-than-life characters like Batty and Pris to inhabit this twisted wonderland, it never comes to life the way it should. This is a beautifully gift-wrapped box of nothing that doesn't feel as though it takes place in the same world as "Blade Runner", and doesn't make us care one tenth as much about its protagonists. Even the handful of questions we were left with way back in 1982 aren't fully answered. Instead, we get a whole new raft of unresolved plot-threads to be explored in an ongoing franchise which, since this movie lost $80m, presumably won't happen. Oh well, maybe "Blade Runner III" will get it right. If they stick to their current schedule, we'll find out in 2052.

A sci fi boy's wet dream
- Blade Runner 2049 review by gs

(2) of (3) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

Poor script, acting, plot with a portentous, philosophical, up its own arse, theme. Good visuals at least. Dreadful representation of women. Either passive, housewifely, will do anything for you, holograms or psychotic monsters. How this film got rave reviews in newspapers that I admire, such as the Guardian, and accurate, damning reviews in papers I despise, such as the Daily Mail, is a mystery quite beyond me at this present time!

Waste of time DO NOT BOTHER
- Blade Runner 2049 review by JP

(1) of (2) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

What a pile of pants !! I hated this film so much I couldn't even make it to the end of the film I shut it off after 2 hours and 8 minutes. What a shame as the original was one of my most favourite films ever. The acting in this film was horrendous, the story was pointless the soundtrack is nothing compared to how amazing the originals was. Many people go on about how the film looks nice at least, I honestly paused the film to check that I had been sent the BLU-RAY version and not the DVD version because of how foggy and muggy the visual effects were at some point in the film. I don't understand why this film was 3 hours long and manages to tell no story whatsoever. What little plot there is, is blatantly obvious after just 10 minutes and nothing in the film at all is memorable, no fantastic lines like 'I've seen things you people wouldn't believe ... ', NOTHING !

Women are either naked, killing someone or being killed while naked ... lots of naked which still couldn't save this film from complete and utter boredom :P

I am so disappointed with the film that I am going to forget that it even exists.

Poor film
- Blade Runner 2049 review by Doug

(1) of (2) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 2

I really like science films and liked Bladerunner the first film but to me this film is very Poor and a big letdown I suppose the special effects are good but thats the only thing that is good and the plot for the film didn't become apparent to later in the film in fact its very vague all through the film After waiting so long to see this film What a let down its completely overrated as well

Master piece
- Blade Runner 2049 review by sd

(1) of (2) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 5

After reading the positive reviews I hoped this sequel to the original Blade Rumne filmr would live up to the high expectations ..And it surpassed them !! A true masterpiece of cinema in every aspect from acting to storyline to breathtaking images of LA in 2049 supeb CGI.

A very thought provoking film .the 2hrs 30 minutws flew by..I must buy a blu ray copy & revisit this again & again.

Style over story
- Blade Runner 2049 review by KC

(1) of (3) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 2

Such a huge disappointment, which added nothing to the original and in fact made me wonder if that was any good in the first place. O.K visually it is utterly sumptuous and maybe in the cinema that would be enough but a smaller screen means the plot has got to do some work and this one didn't, in fact it was completely Po faced and humorless and if you want to make a film that supposedly examines what it is to be human, then leaving out a joke or too makes it appear as if you haven't got a clue what humans are all about in the first place. The women are either bitches or whores, glacial pacing is supposed to grant gravitas when it just induces yawns, and the performances drip with self absorbed mediocrity. I don't understand why they bothered.

Pretentious Plodding Piffle
- Blade Runner 2049 review by Ralphy

(1) of (1) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

Confusing story, plodding plot and laboriously long! Dreadful film. A complete waste of time, and Harrison Ford doesn't appear until you're so bored you have gone past caring. The only highlights were glimpses of Sinatra, Elvis and Liberace at their Las Vegas best.

Blade Runner 2049
- Blade Runner 2049 review by Ceedy

(1) of (1) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 2

The original Blade Runner had everything to keep the viewer riveted to the screen, so I was apprehensive when I watched Blade Runner 2049. As it turns out, rightly so.This is two hours of boredom and not until Harrison Ford makes an appearance does it then turn into a film worth watching. Mumbling actors and CGI cannot take the place of a good script and acting. Ryan Gosling was not so much of a Replicant , but rather a Robot. Very disappointing.

Pretty much a waste of time
- Blade Runner 2049 review by Dax Williams

(1) of (1) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 2

Oh no, another piece of fraudulent filmmaking. This one is straight out of the Nicholas Winding Refn playbook! All stylish sets and 'awesome' effects and absolutely ZERO to care about. I have been a fan of Villenueve's previous movies (Incendies and Sicario in particular) but this Bladerunner sequel is a 157 minute snoozefest with a barely understandable storyline.

I quite liked the original Bladerunner (not as much as some people) because it has memorable moments, quotes, themes and characters. The pacing was pretty slow, but it kept my attention and paid off beautifully in the end. This follow up,however, forgot to include anything interesting!

Admittedly, it does look impressive, and the special effects people have earned the film it's 2nd star for this review, but for me stylish effects alone don't make a good movie. Here the director is more concerned with copying the tone of the original he forgot to give us interesting or sympathetic characters and make us give a toss in any way about what we are watching. The aforementioned Mr Refn is regularly guilty of this approach to filmmaking and I've lost all hope in his films, but hopefully Denis Villenueve will return to form in his coming movies.....

Don't bother
- Blade Runner 2049 review by SC

(1) of (1) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

I started to watch this movie and thought is it going to get any better? Some of the movie towards the end with Harrison was slightly better but certainly not worth watching, so boaring, the was lots of noisy background noisy / music and the actors mumbled.

Terrible - Don't watch
- Blade Runner 2049 review by NA

(1) of (1) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

Don't waste any of your time watching this film. Boring. Not much else to say about it really. Struggling to think of anything positive to say about it to make this review up to the minimum word requirement!

A Masterpiece that most fans of the original will relish
- Blade Runner 2049 review by PS

(1) of (2) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 0

The sheer vast bleakness of this future world is stunning and breathtaking. If you enjoyed the original you’re likely to love this sequel. It is faithful to the original but it explores the ideas and concepts even further taking us in a new direction.

Some of my friends didn’t like it. It can’t be described as a cheerful film. Don't expect a blockbuster superhero or even a Star Wars type film. This is slower and more thoughtful. It’s a long so settle down and let it wash over you. It’s an amazing experience on a big screen.

I was so impressed I went back for a second showing a few days after I first saw it. Once in IMAX 3D and once on a big Empire Impact screen. It was stunning both times and I picked up even more on the second viewing.

Big Disappointment!
- Blade Runner 2049 review by CS

(1) of (3) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

How does one create a worthy sequel to such an original classic? The answer is probably not to, but instead to create something new in it's own right, which is why so often some sequels fail whilst others succeed. Sadly this sequel to my mind fails on a spectacular level! The CGI and Special Effects are impressive and really imaginative, but the film is trying so hard to be just like the original instead of being itself, that it fails miserably. It really does try hard to create the same bleak, soulless future, the same sparse ambience and downtrodden sense of humanity that the original captures so beautifully, but fails in every aspect. Then just as the storyline truly does get going and starts to make some sense, you think you've worked out what's going on and who's who, when suddenly right at the end a completely senseless and inappropriate twist is introduced, which to my mind completely spoilt the whole film. I felt that the final plot came across as pandering too much to feminist and pc propaganda, it was inappropriate to the film and had no place in the actual plot, almost as though halfway through making the film, the producers decided to change the ending to appease some political agenda and as a result ended up with a film that literally has the last ten minutes cut and pasted onto the end, so much so that they literally had to spell it out to you, because it really didn't make any sense, given what we had already seen! I actually had to watch this film in two halves, as it seemed so long and slow. Whilst the original is a true classic and was made for the love of crafting something original and beautiful, this just came across as having been made to cash in! Not sure that Ryan Gosling was the best actor for the part either, he didn't seem to quite fit the role and acme across as almost being disassociated from his character, as though going through the motions. Not one that I would purchase or watch again!

Implant some new memories please...
- Blade Runner 2049 review by DC

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 2

Implant some new memories please so I can forget the time I watched this film! A shame as I think Denis Villeneuve has done some great films recently and I hoped he could have done something interesting with this sequel but alas not for me ( I wasn't that overwhelmed by the original Bladerunner to be honest). As already said it's way too long for what it is and this dystopian future look, though well realised, is getting a bit samey now. Give me Brazil any day.

A well-made sequel to the original movie
- Blade Runner 2049 review by PJ

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 4

The film is well-made and the first 80% is good in my view, and will hold your attention. The atmosphere that is created is what grips you, as it did in the 1st 'Blade Runner' film, despite the fact so much of it is actually implausible or far-fetched. The last 20%, on the other hand, feels a bit weak and underwhelming, as the expression goes. There is something a bit contrived about the ending, and too rosy and positive in relation to the first 3/4 of the film. It gets a bit sentimental in a way that makes the film lose its edge, somehow, but maybe no other ending could be envisaged.

Still, overall, I would say that, for anyone who has seen the original film and liked it, they should enjoy the sequel.

Not impressed
- Blade Runner 2049 review by JT

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 0

I thought it might be my age but reading a lot of other peoples reviews I guess not. I was very un impressed with this and consider the time between the 2 films has been wasted if this is the best they can come up with.

Very slow
- Blade Runner 2049 review by gazmb

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 2

My god this film dragged, I watched it on a plane and it made my flight seem even longer. I think Blade runner films you either like or hate. The first was OK for me but this was way to slow and boring.

This film is so slow, it is ridiculous; it could easily be reduced to less than an hour, the plot is so simple.

I never expected it to match the original, but was led to believe the visuals were excellent. They are not; grey, misty, rainy and generally dull. Neither did I get my head around replicants that bleed and drink.

Overall a great disappointment from Ridley Scott and Denis Villeneuve simply cashing in on the original's reputation.

Demonstrates that new is often not better
- Blade Runner 2049 review by RC

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

Maybe its because I'm 35 years older (or 45 years since I was into Philip K Dick stories) but this is a trivial gratuitous fresh take on the classic. Perhaps if I was 35 years younger it would seem as cool as the original Blade Runner did - but I doubt it as it was still pretty cool when I last saw it about 5 years ago.

This one replaces the depth of the original's mise-en-scene with a surface gloss that conveys nothing except its own cleverness. It replaces the characterisations with cardboard cyphers. It replaces the ambiguity with a teenage boy's fantasies of sex and power.

If you want to see how modern techniques could be used to good effect in this type of future-present story then check out the New Seoul sequences in Cloud Atlas.

If you happen to be a repressed teenage boy you might find this ok, otherwise avoid it.

Subwoofer takes off.
- Blade Runner 2049 review by NC

(0) of (2) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 5

Have a REL 505 and is major must have for Blade 2. Will get Blu Ray when cheaper. Oblivion, Elysium, AI, Blade 1, all good films, and this one joins them. Is one for cinemas and home systems for sure............

Better than the first Blade Runner but that isn't saying much.
- Blade Runner 2049 review by IB

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 3

I loved the first Blade Runner movie but it was 35 years ago and our expectations of movies have changed immeasurably. I proved this when I said that my son and I (aged 15) should watch the original before watching this latest one.... he fell asleep and I realised that my memory of a great movie was more about how the movie measured at the time rather then comparing it to today's movies.

This movie is better than the original but still not great (my wife and son walked out part way through).

So, if you were an 'original' fan than you have to watch it but don't expect it blow your socks off...

Marmite
- Blade Runner 2049 review by DH

(0) of (1) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 3

This obviously divides opinion, it is described either as a masterpiece or as dull pretentious twaddle. I would tend towards the latter unfortunately. Loved the original Blade Runner, this attempted to be an update but missed the mark with a nonsensical plot and Ryan Gosling as an unconvincing replicant who has issues relating to women.

Harrison Ford is in it because he had to be, but didn't convince as an older Deckard, he was more in older Hans Solo mode.

To be fair, though, some of the settings are stunning, the CGI is good overall, and the CGI Rachael was excellently done. The music does nod towards the original, but nowhere near as good as Vangelis. The movie is far too long and to be honest I fell asleep about half way through and had to rewatch it to see the end.

Interesting but one-note.
- Blade Runner 2049 review by NP

(0) of (1) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 3

I believe they call this kind of film ‘world building.’ It’s an apt description of the results of a talented production team using budget and effects to sustain a convincing environment in which you can immerse yourself. In my view, such is the potency of projects like this, actors are there primarily to compliment this imagined civilisation. In 1982, the original ‘Blade Runner’ achieved this perverse enigma very convincingly. Here all these years later, is the sequel.

There was some mild controversy concerning original composer Vangelis not being assigned to provide a soundtrack for this, but Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer’s score is impossible to fault. Vast, weird, laced with industrial swirls and chunky klaxons. Denis Villeneuve’s direction is vast and eccentric, exactly as it should be, and the myriad of art directors ensure that the society, the interiors, the streets, even the habitat of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford of course: grizzled, isolated, but still very much the same character we knew 35 years ago) is as impressive and spacious as it could be, an arena so absorptive and convincing, you can completely drink it in. My problem is, at 2 hrs 44 minutes, I really felt the need for a change of flavour after a while.

It’s impossible to be impressed at wonderful representations of an intricately carved tale for that length of time with no change of tone throughout, no levity, no particular sense of strident drama and only an irregular threat (Sylvia Hoek’s splendid Luv). We have K (Ryan Gosling) and his girlfriend Joi (Ana de Armas, who, as a perfectly pouting, characterless hologram, is very good) and the very slow story of Deckard’s ‘improbable’ child Rachael, and the long trek to locate her. It is good, but thinly stretched over such huge running time. Wrapping it in the beauty of almost overwhelming effects and atmosphere is an impressive compensation, however.

Promises
- Blade Runner 2049 review by Peteczar

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 3

The original Blade Runner was an immersive, atmospheric and poignant. This sequel brings none of that legacy to the screen. It drifts and doesn't carry much story or character development - other than Ryan Gosling's masterful struggle with a confused and confusing character. If there is any story, atmosphere or emotive elements in this film he delivers it - his work is the only reason I rate it as high as 3 stars (and the old dog in the end game).

The scenes were often very slow and long. So much so that I fast forwarded through some of them. By two thirds of the way through I was getting really bored with this wasted opportunity to build on the excellent first movie. If this had been a standalone film, it would probably have gone direct to video.

The scenes were often very slow and long. So much so that I fast forwarded through some of them. By two thirds of the way through I was getting really bored with this wasted opportunity to build on the excellent first movie. If this had been a standalone film, it would probably have gone direct to video.

Disappointing and dull.
- Blade Runner 2049 review by TE

(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.

You rated this film: 1

The word portentous crops up a few times in these reviews, and it sums this film up.

It lacks any of the funky energy of the original.

The budget must have been spent on special effects and the two big name male leads, because there is a severe lack of context footage. The whole thing seems to take place in some rarified zone with little connection to the wider dystopian world.

Ryan Gosling is particularly disappointing, phoning in a passive and limply wooden performance.

Write your own review

Blade Runner 2049 Review

The return to Blade Runner is more of a reprisal of the original film’s heavy themes and surreal tones than the material elements. Director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival) wouldn’t waste our time. In a modern film world where movie retreads have banked entirely on nostalgia to carry them, Blade Runner 2049 is a film that stands strong on its own while still being a pleasing continuation of the cyberpunk film that inspired a new wave of sci-fi.

Taking place thirty years after the events of the previous film, Los Angeles is still a dirty and neon metropolis of towering skyscrapers, glowing ads, filthy streets and gloomy weather. The Tyrell Corporation has been replaced by sinister Wallace (Jared Leto), a more philosophical mind inspired more by godhood than commerce. He vows to create the perfect Replicants that will not disobey and will not kill. More human than human was Tyrell’s motto, but now it seems to be a religion. Removing the obvious tell of iris reflections and the crippling four-year lifespan, Replicants are now the most sound of servants. A few have even been used as the police of Blade Runner, with Replicants hunting down Replicants. A fair fight, I suppose.

One such enforcing Blade Runner Replicant is K (Ryan Gosling), an officer subject to daily screenings to make sure he’s okay in the head. He leads a life of limited emotions, a restricted benefit of Replicant workers that he confides in a hologram program. But when he starts uncovering some hidden memories and secrets about his race of synthetic beings. Of course, this plays into the theme of what it truly means to be human or have a soul, but Villeneuve never makes the story so simple in both its structure or dialogue. A lesser film would have had to include a line where K asks what it means to be human. He’s smart enough to know it means to act human, but needs to search internally for that sensation which sparks inside him.

Villeneuve’s vision of Blade Runner is faithful to the spirit of the original, but expansive as well. Not only does he deliver on the garish qualities of a depressingly vast urban microcosm, but he expands past the city limits of L.A. to explore more of Blade Runner somber world. K’s investigation will take him to a desolate farmland of maggots, a junkyard of slave labor and an abandoned casino of a radioactive city. Despite leaving L.A., we never leave the world. I never as though this was an aspect that was better left unexplored. If anything, I wanted K to travel further into the outreaches of this future. The tech has improved, but only slightly. The Spinner police cars have a more angular design, but still look like spinners. Investigation tools can dig deeper, but still feel rusty and clunky with their whirring and sputtering. And, of course, the guns still fire like real guns.

And now a tale of how the sausage is made. When I was at the press screening, we were presented with message from Villeneuve about not spoiling any of the movie in our early reviews. When the film ended, we were given a specific list of what we were not supposed to spoil. Though I’m pretty much in the clear by the time this review has been posted, I’ll refrain from spoiling anymore about the film from here. This is more out of respect for the film than appeasing Villeneuve’s wishes. It’s not even because all the plot twists and characters reveals are all that shocking or important to the entertainment of the film. This is a movie that deserves to be seen cold, despite the requirement of having seen the original film. It needs to wash over the viewer to fully appreciate its atmosphere of a large, meditative and intricate movie that truly felt like a movie experience as opposed to the typical track we’ve become used to.

I knew Denis wouldn’t disappoint as he hasn’t failed me with any of his previous picture. I was not prepared for how much of a masterpiece he would deliver. Where other reboots and sequels only find references, cameos and merchandising, Blade Runner 2049 finds that sublime sensation of transcendence that the original film delivered so well and amplifies it to a new level of astonishing filmmaking.

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